It's A Wonderful Life
by l0stinl0ve
Summary: Draco thinks that Hermione and the rest of the world would be better off he was never born. His guardian angel takes him through the past to prove how wrong he really is. Three Shot.
1. Meeting Your Guardian Angel

**Author's Note:** I wanted to write something for the holiday spirit and every idea I had I found other stories that did it, and probably did it a lot better. Than I was going through my old movies and found "_It's A Wonderful Life"_ and was like, you know, there are a lot of small things in the Harry Potter books that Draco was a part of and possibly would have made a big difference if he wasn't there. So then this idea was born and now I'm writing it. Also thanks toGhostStar54 for beta reading this. I do hope you enjoy it. And as always, please review.

* * *

There's a lot of joy and laughter coming from inside the house. The warmth from the rowdy bunch barely makes it to the edge of the porch. Draco is sitting on the front steps with a glass of eggnog. Its only his third glass, but because Hermione makes them strong, he's more than a little tipsy.

He's sitting their contemplating what was said inside. Despite it seemingly being pleasant, just less than an hour ago, it was actually full of tension. He is currently going over what he could of said to prevent from possibly ruining Hermione's Christmas when she walks outside and sits next to him.

She grasps his hand and squeezes it tightly. "Draco, please come back inside. You're going to get sick if you stay out here."

He looks at her like he's looking at her for the first time. She's always been able to take his breath away. Like the Weasley's said earlier, he doesn't deserve her. "I rather get sick. Go back inside and enjoy the time with your friends and family." He tries to urge her back inside where those that deserve her love are.

"Draco, what's wrong? You know I want to spend the holiday with you. Being in there doesn't make me as happy as being with you is. So please, come on, we can leave if you like, we just have to say goodbye to Teddy. I just want to spend Christmas with you." She wraps her arms around Draco and rests her head on his shoulder.

He pats her hair. The booze is starting to really hit him. _Maybe I'm more than tipsy_, he says to himself. He's trying to get his thoughts in order and put them into words but all that comes out is nothing. The words lodge in his throat. He takes a deep breath and sighs loudly. She looks up at him. She has unshed tears in her eyes. He thinks,no he knows, what he's about to say is the best thing he can do for her. For once, he's going to do what's best for everyone else instead of being selfish.

"Hermione, go back inside. They are more important than me. You'll be happier in there. Please just go." He brushes her off and quickly gets up. He starts walking away and doesn't turn back to her cries. He can hear her sobbing but he keeps reassuring himself that he's doing what's best.

When he turns to apparate away, she is looking at me with tears streaming down her face. Just as he's about to disappear he hears the faint sound of her voice. _Draco._

* * *

"Aberforth let me have another shot." Draco is even more drunk than he was before sitting at the bar of the _Hog's Head_.

"No, Mr. Malfoy. You've already had eight, and I don't even know how much you drank before you got here. But I refuse to listen to you talk about a bushy buck-tooth beaver for another second. You really need to get home." Aberforth is all but pushing Draco out of the pub.

Draco starts to wander the streets of Hogsmeade. He hasn't been here for a while – too busy working. The last time he was here was during the summer. Hermione wanted to visit Hogwarts before the hustle and bustle of school started. Like always, he followed her along while she regaled stories of their school years. When he reaches the _Shrieking Shack_, he recalls the story of how Professor Lupin was a werewolf and how she tricked him. She was always brilliant, and he knew it then.

He was such an idiot back then. _"How can you love her; for years she was everything you despised!"_ The words just continued to echo in his mind. He does love her, and that's why he had to let her go. He walks into the shack and wonders if the dried blood is that of his beloved godfather. _Was this what is what it was like for you? Loving Lily?_ He tries not to cry for the loss of his old potions master or for the love that he never had returned. He recalls the time Hermione told him the story and how it took everything in his power to refrain from breaking into sobs.

He walks through the tunnel that leads to Hogwarts. _"She'd be happier with me, you know. She wouldn't have to deal with all that pureblood society."_ The first ball that Hermione attended with him at the Manor was rough. Not only did they have to face the demons of what happened there the last time she "visited" but she felt the need to not only impress his parents but all those that were in attendance. She was always a brave Gryffindor and held her head high, but that night I heard her crying herself to sleep. Weasley was right; she wouldn't have to subject herself to the sneers of those who wrongfully think they're better than her.

He runs out the exit trying to avoid being hit by the _Whomping Willow_. _"It would have been better if you never came into her life._" Maybe they were right. Draco starts to ponder running into the tree and letting it pound him to death. It could be worth it. She'd have to forget him and then Weasley can console her and then she'll be happy.

Just as he turns around to head back towards the tree he hears a distinct female voice, _"I wouldn't if I were you. It will hurt." _Draco jumps in surprise. He looks around for the voice but sees no one. He looks back at the tree. _Yah, it would hurt_.

He starts to walk off towards the lake. He sits at the banks of its shore. He tries to skip rocks against the water. Hermione was always good at this. He remembers her teaching him and Teddy the one time they babysat him. He hasn't been able to play with his little cousin for months now. The rocks he throws quickly sink into the water barely even skidding more than twice. A tentacle comes out of the water and Draco watches the ripples from the Giant Squid's movement. _Maybe I can just walk into the water and the Squid will drown me._

Death is all he can ponder now. He really thinks that the end of his life would bring the world the happiness that they seek. _The Merfolk may attack me and end this misery_.

He hears the sounds of footsteps. It's pass curfew during the winter hols; no one should be around right now. "Why are you so intent on ending your life?" He turns around to see a ghost. Well, it can't be a ghost considering she isn't translucent. His jaw hits the floor and he's at a loss of words.

"Wow, cousin, if I knew this is what I had to do to shut you up I would have died sooner and came back to scare you." She sits down next to him and starts skipping rocks. She's even worse than Draco. She has no aim. Some of the rocks end up behind them in the grass.

Finally knocked out of his stupor, Draco draws his mouth shut. He tries to figure out what's going on. When no answers are forthcoming, he simply asks, "Nymphadora. What are you doing here?"

"Firstly, call me Tonks. You know I hate my name, I'm sure that's worldly knowledge. I did see that my mother placed it at my grave. Please make sure that Teddy knows never to refer to me as that." Her face is full of remorse and she's trying to hold back tears.

"He calls you mother, so don't worry. What's second?" This is his first conversation he's ever had with her and he doesn't want it to be one that is melancholy. He has dealt with enough crying women for the day.

"Oh yes, secondly, I'm here as your guardian angel. I need my wings. Severus won't let me live it down. It's not my fault that I tripped and knocked over the _damn gate_. I'm clumsy, you'd think they knew that up there before letting me in, but _no_, clearly I was mistaken." She quickly jumps up and starts pacing in front of where the two were seated.

Draco is dumbfounded. A guardian angel? Wings? Severus? What's in the name of Merlin was going on? "Excuse me?"

"Oh, sorry. Of course you wouldn't understand. Basically, I have been watching you. I'm supposed to keep you from following through this dumb idea you got into your head. Severus says hello by the way. He appreciates you thinking of him earlier. Well he didn't say it in those exact words. He was visiting with me and Remus while I was watching and you could see it in his eyes. So he said it with his face. Let's put it that way."

Now Draco was really confused. She was watching him? Remus? _That's what Hermione always called Professor Lupin. Aah. _"Ok, so what are you doing here exactly?" Draco's head was reeling. He wasn't sure if it was from all the drinking or the poor explanation his cousin was giving him.

"I already told you. I'm your guardian angel. I need my wings. Come on, weren't you second at school?"

He scoffs at her. For a first conversation, this wasn't the best one. Maybe this was a booze induced vision? Too bad he was going to avoid Hermione like the plague; she'd get a good laugh. Teddy would enjoy the story of his mother too, now that he thought about it. "Ok, I'm still confused. Can you please explain?"

"Ok, I guess let me start from the beginning. Don't look at me like that, I don't mean the _very _beginning. But from the beginning of this." She waves her arms around to gesture what Draco thinks to be her as an angel. But he's still not sure. He's giving her an incredulous look as if he doesn't believe her.

"Just stop looking at me like that and listen! Basically Remus and I are there right? And for the most part he just watches Teddy. We appreciate you being there for him, by the way. But that's beside the point. Anyway, Remus was assigned George. And that was hard. He didn't take Fred's death very well at first." Draco tries to recall those days. It was during his and his father's trials. It was also when Hermione forgave him. "And then Severus, the lucky sod! He just waltzes into the gates and instantly has wings. He doesn't need to be a guardian angel to get his. He isn't a junior guardian angel, _noo_, he had to live his whole life watching over _Harry Potter_ and help save the day and he already has wings. So you can only imagine how upset I am being the only one that's still a _junior guardian angel_. I swear to you it's just like being an Auror all over again."

Tonks is nearly screeching now. Draco's headache is still there and he's pretty sure it's because of her. All this guardian angel business is making him seriously consider the booze induced vision idea more. He goes back to looking at the lake while she goes on and on about living with Lupin and being visited by Snape. He wonders what Hermione is doing right now. Is she still crying? Or did Ronald Weasley step in already to save the day? How is Teddy? Did he open the gift they gave him this year? Does he like the training broom? Aunt Andromeda will be livid at first, but he doesn't care. He won't be here for much longer. Living without Hermione isn't the life he wants but he wants her to be happy.

"Will you _please _stop thinking that the world will be better without you? Seriously, you're such an idiot." Draco looks at her hand like she's crazy. _If anything, I'm the crazy one. I'm talking to my cousin for the first time ever and oh, yah, she is also supposed to be dead._ "Come on, I want to show you something." He grabs her hand to get up and follows her away from the lake.


	2. The Early Years

**Author's Note**: This chapter is fairly long because I'm going to pick bits and pieces from the entire series and spin them around. I apologize if it's too much to read but I have the beginning of the third part already written and it's positively perfect. BTW, don't you love Tonks and Draco's relationship? I've thus decided I will have to write another fic where she survived and this relationship can be explored more. Thanks again to GhostStar54 for beta-ing this chapter.

As always, please enjoy reading, and review!

DMHGDMHG

Next thing Draco knows, he's at the Quidditch Pitch and it's daytime. He can see a group of first years standing by their brooms. "What's this?" Draco is speechless. There's a young Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley sneering at the bushy haired Hermione. She has a look of pure determination while trying to get her broom to listen to her.

"She never did get the hang of flying. You really should see if you can get her to fly now. She's really missing out. I'm surprised you convinced her to let you get Teddy the training broom." She's trying to stifle her laugh, but she can't help but chuckle at how hard Hermione is trying and failing miserably. "Don't you remember this day?"

I'm rolling my eyes at her. Hermione is rather silly. It's good to know there is something she isn't good at though, and that's part of the reason he's refrained from teaching her to fly. He likes to have something to hold over her. He asks his cousin, "Why are we watching this?"

"Well, since you were never born. Harry will never get to impress Minerva with his flying –"

"What do you mean?"

"You weren't here to take Neville's remembrall and fly off with it. So Harry doesn't chase after you and you remember the rest. It never happens." She's chuckling at Ron who has hit himself in the face with the broom. Draco couldn't help but laugh as well. "Also, Hermione and the boys don't get to practice the Leg-Lock hex because they didn't see you trying it out on Neville. Poor Hermione had to wait to learn that in class instead of trying before-hand! Could you imagine her face if she knew that she actually learned something from you?"

Draco was outright laughing now. He was upset that he never got to know his cousin when she was alive. _I only hope Teddy is like this when he's older_.

"You have to go back in order to see." Tonks was somber now – the mirth gone from her eyes. She looks at him wearingly as if at any moment he may break and disappear. Draco immediately stops laughing and feels like he's upset the balance and just as quickly as her laughs died, she flashes a huge grin. "Can you believe that Neville is on such good terms with you now? After all you did when the two of you were at school." She turns back to look at the first years trying to fly and giggles.

_She's right. I was a foul git to him_. Just another thing he can add to his list of why he doesn't deserve to be alive. Neville could have had a better life. He was always a decent guy and wasn't it because of him that they won the house cup first year? He stood up to the Golden Trio. _Not even I could do that properly_. Neville is the only boy – _no man_ – who openly accepts his relationship with Hermione.

"You will have to thank him properly. For more than you know now." Tonks turns back to Draco with that knowing look of hers. _How does she do that?_

"Guardian Angel, remember?" She taps at his forehead as if he's an idiot for forgetting.

"Oh yes, a _junior_ guardian angel." Draco can't help but be snarky at her. He's blaming her for this, he's decided.

"Ah, there's the wanker that I've come to learn and love these past few months. Come on, there's more to see." And just like that, she turns away from the pitch and leads them back up to the castle.

DMHGDMHG

As they approach the great hall, Draco can't help the dismal feeling pass through him. He keeps his eyes trained on the floor. Even in the past he can't help the guilt that weighs heavily on his conscience. The death of his cousin, Tonks, who is so graciously leap frogging through his past with him is just another rock that sinks to the pit of his stomach. _Does it ever end?_

"Once you realize that life goes on and no one who is gone wants you to waste away, it does." She is staring at a particular section of the corridor. Her eyes are brimming with tears. Draco recalls that was where Professor Lupin's body last laid before Tonks went ape-shit and took out several Death Eaters to avenge the death of her husband. _Add another rock_.

"He's the one who told me that. He said it to George a lot; in regards to Fred. We were surprised that Fred wasn't his Guardian Angel." She turns away from the pain and starts laughing outright. Her nose changing shape – from a pig snout to Snape's oversized hooked nose – in attempts to prevent the snorts mixed into her laughter. "Fred wasn't allowed to be a guardian angel. Isn't that hilarious? Severus was the one to break the news to him and OH it was bloody brilliant!"

Draco looks at her puzzled but a smile tugging at his lips. _I can only imagine how that went._

""Mister Weasley, all that tom-foolery you so loved while on Earth has finally come back to bite you in the arse. Fortunately for you, while your pranks and products were troublesome, they didn't harm enough to garner you banishment from here. However, you will not get all the privileges that the rest of have been graced with.'

"So then Fred goes, 'Why, Sevvy, a lifetime with no responsibility, getting to watch the failed antics of my dear brothers, oh, and not to mention annoying my favorite professor till the end of time; this is exactly what I imagined heaven to be like.'

"The look Severus's face! Oh, it was almost worth death, I'll tell you!"

Draco is on the floor laughing now. He can't help it, but the twins – although Weasleys – were brilliant when it came to laughs. Even though it's been months since Fred's death, George was finally coming around to his old self. In the past month or so, he even made Draco more comfortable when spending time with the Weasley's. _Is it just the alcohol speaking or does he understand how I feel about Granger?_

"Oh, Remus gave him an earful about the way he and the rest of them treated you in regards to Hermione. Needless to say, Fred sort of wishes he had some of those privileges right about now. He wants to knock Ron's ears out."

Just as Draco is about to respond to this the Great Hall is filled with students. Snape walks into the hall, robes billowing and all, and stands at the opposite end of the only table sneering at everyone in the crowd. Professor Lockhart – _that idiot_ – with a poor attempt at mimicking Snape, strides in.

"Not even Voldy-Moldy could pull that off as well as Severus." Draco snorts at Tonks' comment.

"Tonks, why are we here?" As funny as her comment is, Draco doesn't understand why they're watching dueling club. If his memory serves him correct, the whole school finds out that Potter is a parsel mouth and the possible Slytherin heir.

"Oh, I just wanted to watch Severus put that idiot in his place! I promised him to show off some of his better moments and he wanted me to point out one of 'the insufferable know-it-all's weaker moments.' Do you see how she's swooning at Lockhart?" She's pointing at a thirteen year old Hermione Granger who has a tinge of rose on her cheeks while looking at the git. _I'll so have to poke fun of her for this._

"Don't forget you have to go back for that. Anyways, nothing really to show you with this. Come on." Tonks grabs his arm and starts to lead them out of the hall. _Wait, what about the snake? What about Potter telling it to attack that other muggle-born? I don't get it._

"You don't get it because you're not here to duel him so that spell was never done. Harry never realizes he's a parsel mouth till much later, if at all. So, even though, in the words of Hermione, you were a, what did she call you when she hit you? An 'evil, vile, loathsome little cockroach' you still helped them a lot without realizing. Come on I'll show you how else you did."

DMHGDMHG

She starts to lead them up to Myrtle's bathroom. _Oh no, not her!_ Draco starts to break into a sweat. The last memory he has of this corridor is when he nearly died. The last memory he has of this bathroom is of him crying to the ghost about his task and how he no longer believed in the views of a snake-face maniac. He's hesitant to walk into the bathroom in fear of stirring up vivid memories of that year. _Am I going to see that year while I'm on this drunken bender too?_

"Oh yes, we will, but we still have the other years to go through. Don't worry, I promise to make you laugh while showing you you're an idiot." Tonks breaks his reverie and tugs him through the door. Inside he sees Hermione toiling over a cauldron while Potter and Weasley play exploding snap behind her. "She's finishing a polyjuice potion. Because they wanted to confirm if you were the Slytherin heir they came up with a plot to get into your common room and get you to talk. Pretty brilliant if you ask me. If you weren't around she wouldn't have pushed herself as hard."

"She brewed polyjuice in second year?" He can't conceal his amazement at his witch. _No, she's not my witch anymore._

"Oh, I beg to disagree. She is as much yours as you are hers. You shaped her into the woman she is today as much as she shaped you into the young man before me." Tonks looks at him proudly, as if she's looking at her own son. _She's not going to get to see Teddy grow up._ "I'll be watching him. Don't worry. And you and Hermione are a wonderful influence. As is Harry when he's not being a sod."

"Will you stop that? I don't like you in my head. It's bloody weird." She just chuckles at Draco, shaking her head.

"Oh do hush; it's all part of the job. Now let's go. We have a _Care of Magical Creatures_ class to attend." And with that, she took off towards the staircases to leave the castle. Draco merely followed reminiscing of his younger years and what his cousin meant by he and Hermione shaping each other.

DMHGDMHG

They watch Hagrid explain the best way to deal with a hippogriff. _I should have listened_.

"Hindsight does that to you." Her look is melancholy. She watches Harry fly off in the distance on Buckbeak. "You look back and you see where you made those mistakes and what you could have done differently. But really, time is better spent living." She turns back to Draco and gives him a small smile. "Did you know Hermione had a time-turner third year?"

He guffaws. Tonks giggles and pushes his jaw shut. It takes him a few minutes to realize what she just said but then it all clicks. "That's how she was in all those bloody classes! Is that how she had time to study and be on top of everything? Did she still have it afterwards?" He narrows his eyes and starts plotting away, "I'm going to give her hell, that's cheating, that is! And she gives me a bloody hard time when I use magic to do the dishes!" He's fuming now, not noticing that it's now dark and Buckbeak is flying off in the distance with Sirius on his back. Tonks laughs even harder while listening to her cousin fume about how he can't take _any_ shortcuts around his witch.

"Oh bugger!" Tonks stops laughing right away when they end up back on the shore of the lake. "Bugger! Bugger! I'll never get my wings now. Everyone is going to laugh at me! Ok, Draco, you need to pay attention now because we can't have any more of these distractions. You totally just missed whatever it was that just happened!"

All Draco could do was roll his eyes at his cousin and then mock salute her when she grab his wrist and they disappeared.

DMHGDMHG

When he opened his eyes again it was really dark but there was a huge crowd of people around him. There was a faint smell of smoke in the air and when he turned to ask his cousin where they were he found her in a state of shock. Her mouth was open and her eyes were misting. He followed her gaze and what he saw was not what he wanted to see.

DMHGDMHG

**Author's Note: **This chapter ended up being really long so I decided to break it there and in the next one you'll get the rest of the flashbacks. I'll have that done by this weekend to upload (I've decided if I give myself a fixed date it'll push me. Plus, I've started another story that's going to be multi-chapter and I'm really excited for it because the first chapter makes me happy. It's going to be about how the Malfoy's realize they're on the wrong side right around the time Hermione oblivates her parents, and through an unbreakable vow, they help Hermione and her friends & family win the war. It'll either continue with the aftermath of the war, or I'll make that a sequel, not sure yet. So please look out for it!

Please review and I'll love you forever!


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